Maria Bartiromo, moderator for CNBC's Meeting of the Minds, takes advantage of a commercial break to step off the panelists' stage and into the audience. In the midst of the union organizers, steelworkers, and students, she finds her preset mark. Moments later, a producer touches her headset and nods. She vigorously waves her arms to prompt applause, the cue that the cameras are rolling again. The cable network has chosen to tape this special episode called "Rebuilding America" at Carnegie Mellon's Pittsburgh campus—given the city's industrial history and its well-documented rebirth from its exclusive steel industry days.

Smoothing down his gray-striped tie, Parker Humbert rises from his seat. The Tepper graduate student towers above the television personality. Seated onstage in front of him are leaders of the manufacturing world: Hilda L. Solis, the U.S. secretary of labor; Jeff Immelt, chair and CEO of General Electric; Daniel DiMicco, chair, president, and CEO of Nucor; John Engler, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers; Bill Ford, executive chair of Ford Motor Company; and Leo Gerard, president of the U.S. Steelworkers. Each of the business icons is looking at the 27-year-old student, awaiting his question.

Humbert thinks of the financial companies and consulting firms that have been aggressively wooing him and his classmates to come to work for them after graduation. The competition in the financial services economy is fierce, and since nearly the first week of classes, there have been myriad swanky recruiting events. With that in mind, he leans down to speak into the microphone Bartiromo holds. What he wants to know from the panel is how the manufacturing sector can compete with the enticing Wall Street perks in what Humbert dubs "the war on talent."

In the panelists' eagerness to answer him, they start talking over one another, realizing that it will take young executives like Humbert to fuel a manufacturing renaissance. It's Immelt's straightforward answer that resonates with Humbert—choose to do what one loves, not to "follow the dough." Humbert sits down, returning to anonymity, but with much to reflect.

The program aired last fall, but the moment wasn't lost forever for Humbert. His wife took a picture of their television when he showed up on the screen.
Elizabeth O'Brien